Travel – Page 9 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot (continued)

This is a continuation of an exploration and sunset shoot in Valley of Fire, Nevada in March of 2023.

The late day sun rays made this rock look like an ancient warriors golden helmet.

When I saw this vertical arch and the way it was attached between the rocks above and that beneath, I immediately thought of it as a blood sucking insect. As I move around the rock that first impression was reinforced.

A few minutes later I found another rock that appeared to be another blood sucking creature.

It is not unusual to find rock faces with these little holes along rock interfaces that look like they were purposely designed as perforations at which to separate the rock layers.

I might have disturbed this rock creatures rest, as it appears to be opening one eye to see what has awakened it.

The golden hour is now in full force as the magic sunset hour begins to color the desert rocks golden yellow.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot (continued)

This is the second part of our final sunset shoot in March 2023 in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I’m always amazed at the rock sculpture nature provides for us to enjoy.

There is definitely a wary looking face in this rock that appears to be watching me as I make this image. Maybe this rock has had bad experiences with humans in the past.

While the image may not be a greatly attractive scene, I found it interesting enough to take time to capture it. There is much texture, interesting rock shapes and lines running through the rock. The image name is for the narrow wash in the center that has an accumulation of sand at the bottom center.

I moved to the right from the last composition to make this image, which shows off some of the more interesting features in the rock. The rock at the top, with its concave erosional form reminds me of a baseball catcher’s mitt. With the Texas Rangers clinching a berth in the 2023 World Series, maybe this is an appropriate time to post this image.

A close up, color version, of the “Catcher’s Mitt”.

Erosion has created holes in these rocks that I can imagine animals or ancient people using as shelters. Modern day man might even take temporary shelter in one of these in an emergency.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot

I’ve decided to move on to our final sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, rather than write another blog on our early morning shoot near our campground. But I will include one more image from that early morning shoot here.

Initially, I did not think highly of this image, but the more I looked at it, the better I liked it. The shadows, colors and features in the foreground rock with its ridge leading into the background were the impetus for this composition. Maybe my thought process leading to this composition was ok, after all.

Moving on…

The earliest photos shot while scouting and anticipating golden hour are seldom the (my) best, many do not even get processed and sometimes I’m grasping to just find something in these shots worthy of posting anywhere. So I apologize in advance, if my images chosen for this post are of little interest to readers.

There must be a better composition here.

And there is a better composition here, but I did not see it until near the end of this sunset shoot. Sometime one must move around more to see the obvious. I will return to this location in another post with much better compositions at this location.

Wandering about, I walked down a narrow passageway between two massive rock features, noted the nooks, holes and vertical feature in one of those rocks and I had to stop to capture this with late day sun on features in the background.

Nooks and Crannies – Monochrome – Close up

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 25 – Another Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a late day shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, March 2023.

My oldest son (on top of the peak in the lower right) shot the storm from other higher elevation vantage points and complained that I did not come up to join him. I have not seen his photos, so I don’t know how to compare his to mine, but he is of the opinion that he had better views than I did. I was busy shooting what I saw from my location and I thought I might miss out on the scene by taking time to move elsewhere and at least I know that we did not get identical shots.

This wraps up today’s sunset shoot. Next up, sunrise in the desert near the campground in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Until then,

Ken.

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 24 – Another Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a March 2023 sunset shoot in Valley of Fire, Nevada.

I made many images with the late day light changing as the sun sank into the western horizon with clouds moving overhead and a distant storm on the easterly horizon. I’m presenting a few selected images in this post.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 23 – Another Sunset Shoot

It seems suitable, at this time of the day, that the clouds in the sky and the geology in Valley of Fire, Nevada came together to create an hourglass shape, if one has the imagination to see it.

Another late day storm was brewing over the desert, which resulted in dramatic sky for background.

I composed this image to have the rocks along the diagonal pointing towards the distant storm.

Then I thought maybe I had too much in this image, so I moved in close to the end portion of the foreground rock, keeping a portion of the little bush at the edge of the rock.

This emphasized the foreground rock, but reduced the background and the stormy, cloudy sky, which I think is not an improvement. The wider angle view is better, I think.

I like the way the rock texture looks, even on its own, but with the late day light and a stormy sky background it seems to really pop.

In this image I like the foreground shadows that contrast with the late day light on the middle ground and the background sky and the rugged geology.

Skyway – Walk this way to reach the clouds.

Symmetric Reflection – Earth and Sky Symmetry

Maybe the correct word is “symmetrical”, but the image is not exactly symmetrical, so I will stick with the “Symmetric” label.

I used the many linear features in the rock as leading lines in this photo, which is a cropped version of the original. The original included much more of the foreground, as I like those linear features, but upon reviewing, I thought maybe I over did it with the foreground.

To be continued with much more of that late day desert storm,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 22 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a multiple part blog of a sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

The rock features in Valley of Fire take on different looks as one moves around, viewing these from various positions.

To Reach the Gold, One Must Overcome the Obstacles

The Funnel is my name for this location. The rock texture just seems to “funnel” one into the scene.

Light tops off the distant rocks like a sweet, golden frosting on a multilayered cake, with a dollop of whipped cream on the edge.

Everything in this image is in the previous one, but less. I moved in to reduce the scope of the image, then cropped in more in post processing to make the sky more prominent and emphasize the large rock feature at the bottom right, which was in the bottom left of the previous image. I think this makes the scene more dramatic, but that is in the eye of the beholder.

Evening sky flows and glows over Valley of Fire, Nevada, highlighting some features and casting others into deepening shadows.

This wraps up this sunset shoot, but there will be another.

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 19 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a multiple part sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

The rock features here remind me of ocean waves and ripples on a shoreline.

A desert shrub stands as if on a stage in a spotlight as the late day desert light show begins.

In a harsh, rocky, dry desert environment life finds a way to survive.

Desert vegetation staying close to the rocks. Is it because that is where the sand is deepest, where more water is available from run off from the rocks or is there more protection from the elements there? I suspect all of those are factors in desert life survival.

These vertical rock protrusions remind me of fish fins.

This is a good place to end this post, but more of this sunset shoot to follow.

Until next time,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 18 – Sunset Shoot

This sunset photo shoot will be presented in multiple posts.

These rocks seem to be looking towards the late day sun.

The rock texture here looks like a river or spring flowing from beneath that little arch.

Rock seems to be flowing like a spring from beneath the rock above it. There is even an eddy current or whirlpool near the left side of the rock spring.

Rock makes sand, sand makes rock, cycle repeats.

Interesting rock formations in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. I can imagine those cross cutting, linear features as veins feeding into a strange creature’s brain.

Life is gone from this desert bush, but it still casts a shadow upon the rock beside which it once thrived.

Shadows lengthen as the peace of evening descends over Valley of Fire, Nevada.

A quiet, peaceful evening is fast approaching in Valley of Fire, Nevada.

Rock texture mimics a waterfall.

The rock fragments accumulated in the “whirlpool” like area of this rock feature look like debris swirling around at the base of a waterfall.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 17 – Return from the Fire Wave

On our hike back to the parking lot, we took an obvious route towards a large feature that we had hiked past on our way in. This route went alongside the rock outcrop from which the Fire Wave is formed.

That large rock feature towards which this outcrop points, is our destination for joining up with the official trail back to the parking lot.

Early morning shadow and light seem to be divided by the meeting of two different rock formations. The meeting of these two different rock deposits forms a low area, where sand accumulates and desert vegetation takes root.

I noted many small pebbles accumulated in the ridges of this rock outcrop. Initially, I thought maybe tourist were tossing these into the grooves, but now I think it is a natural accumulation. Maybe strong winds blow the pebbles along the rock face until the pebbles drop into a place that is somewhat protected from the wind.

That’s all for this hike and early morning shoot,

Ken

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Category: Travel

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot (continued)

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot (continued)

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 25 – Another Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 24 – Another Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 23 – Another Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 22 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 19 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 18 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 17 – Return from the Fire Wave

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